Lagardère: share up on renewed speculation

(CercleFinance.com) - Lagardère shares were the biggest winner in the SBF 120 on the Paris stock exchange on Tuesday morning, as speculation about the future of the media group was rekindled by the sudden departure of the CEO of Hachette Livre.


At 10 am, the share was up over 5%, largely outpacing a 0.8% increase in the Paris index at the same time.

Lagardère announced last night the appointment of Pierre Leroy as CEO of Hachette Livre, its publishing arm, to replace Arnaud Nourry who has been asked to leave the group under an amicable separation.

Arnaud Nourry, who has headed Hachette Livre for 17 years, had recently voiced his opposition to a possible merger of the publishing house with Vivendi subsidiary Editis, rejecting any prospect of "dismantling" the company.

His abrupt departure reignites speculation that Vivendi is trying to put pressure on Lagardère to recover certain assets, such as the publishing business or the radio station Europe 1.

This announcement should be seen as a gesture of appeasement between Arnaud Lagardère and Vivendi, holder of 24% of the group's capital, or even the prelude to a sale of Hachette Livre to Vivendi, analysts at Invest Securities said.

The broker notes that the announcement comes at a time when Vivendi has recently confirmed the spin off of its music subsidiary UMG.



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